Editing Sydney Push (section)

==Social and cultural life==
{{Libertarian socialism sidebar}}
The intellectual life of the Libertarians was mainly pursued in and around the university, including neighbouring pubs like May's, the Forest Lodge and the British Lion. On evenings and weekends, it overflowed into the much larger 'downtown' social milieu known as the Push, which flourished at a succession of pubs and other places of refreshment including the Tudor, Lincoln, Lorenzini's Wine Bar and Repin's Coffee Shop; however, of greatest notoriety, was the [[Royal George Hotel, Sydney|Royal George Hotel]] in [[Sussex Street, Sydney|Sussex Street]], which Clive James described in his ''[[Unreliable Memoirs]]'':<ref>[[Clive James|James, C.]] ''Unreliable Memoirs'', Picador Books, 1981, p. 140.</ref>

<blockquote>The Royal George was the headquarters of the Downtown Push, usually known as just the Push.... As well as the Libertarians and the aesthetes there were the small-time gamblers, [[traditional jazz]] fans and the homosexual radio repair men who had science fiction as a religion. The back room had tables and chairs. If you stuck your head through the door of the back room you came face to face with the Push. The noise, the smoke and the [[heterogeneity]] of [[physiognomy]] were too much to take in. It looked like a cartoon on which [[William Hogarth|Hogarth]], [[Honoré Daumier|Daumier]] and [[George Grosz]] had all worked simultaneously, fighting for supremacy.</blockquote>

Since the mid-1950s, before extended pub hours replaced [[Six o'clock swill|6 o'clock closing]], Push night-life commonly consisted of a meal at an inexpensive restaurant such as the Athenian or Hellenic Club ("the Greeks") or La Veneziana ("the Italians") followed by parties held most nights of the week at private residences. These were very lively occasions with singing of folksongs and bawdy ditties such as "Professor John Glaister" and many others, often accompanied by transvestite piano player Herbert Dye.<ref>{{Cite book| author = S Hogbotel & S Fuckes | title=Snatches & Lays – Songs Miss Lilly White should never have taught us | publisher = Sun Books, Melbourne | year = 1973 | isbn = 0-7251-0164-4}}</ref> Accompaniments were also provided by accomplished guitarists and lutenists (Ian McDougall, John Earls, Terry Driscoll, Don Ayrton, Brian Mooney, John Roberts, Don Lee, Beth Schurr, [[Bill Berry (folk singer)|Bill Berry]], [[Marian Henderson]] and others).<ref>Turnbull, Malcolm J. "[http://www.warrenfahey.com.au/early-sydney-part1/ Key players on the Sydney coffee lounge scene]", at warrenfahey.com.au</ref> [[Don Henderson (folk singer)|Don Henderson]],<ref>[http://donhenderson.com.au/hendo_interview.html Making of a song-writer—interview]</ref> [[Declan Affley]] and [[Martyn Wyndham-Read]]<ref>[http://www.martynwyndhamread.com/ Martyn Wyndham-Read official site]</ref> are three well-known artists who were influenced by their time in the Push.